Vegan Birthday Cake (Vegan Vanilla Sponge Cake)

One of the recipes on here that you always seem to love is my Vanilla Birthday Cake, and I’ve had many requests to create a vegan version for people to make for their friends and family who cannot have eggs and dairy.Before Christmas, I shared my recipe for Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes, and I promised that I’d adapt that recipe to make a larger cake, and here it is. As with my vegan vanilla cupcakes, it has the perfect sponge cake texture, and I’d challenge anyone who didn’t know it was egg or dairy-free to guess otherwise.

However, with this particular cake it wasn’t just about getting the perfect flavour and fluffy texture.One thing that I love about running this site is the messages I get from people that have made my birthday cakes for their friends and families. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing pictures of your creations and reading about how much everyone loved the cake. I’ve talked before about my memories of the cakes my mum made for me as a child, and how excited I was to see what she’d created each year. I want other children (and grown-ups too) to be able to have those memories regardless of whether they can have eggs or dairy.

So this cake not only had to be delicious, it also had to be sturdy enough to decorate. To cover in colourful fondant and stick characters on the top and make someone’s day.

And it is…

Yes, yes, I know you don’t light the candles after slicing the cake, but it looked prettier that way 🙂

So what makes the perfect vegan cake?

As I said before, this recipe is based on my Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes, and I’ve written all about the development of that recipe, in particular, why I used the ingredients I have over on that post. If you’d like to read more about it, then head over there for all the detail.

The main feature that makes this cake different from many of the other vegan cake recipes is that the eggs are replaced in two different ways.

A combination of bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and plant-based milk replaces the raising abilities of the eggs, giving the cake lift and making it light and fluffy.

The addition of ground chia seeds replaces the drying abilities of the egg so that the finished cake is soft, not claggy.

But it’s not just about replacing the egg. This cake also has other subtle differences to a traditional sponge cake.

Extra flour adds stability.

Almond milk (or another plant-based milk) replaces the moisture from the eggs and helps get the cake mixture to the right consistency.

Vegan margarine adds softness and flavour – many vegan cakes use vegetable oil instead, but I prefer the texture and taste of a cake made with margarine.

Sift the dry ingredients (270g self-raising flour, ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda, and the ground chia seeds) into the bowl with the margarine, sugar and vanilla. Finally, pour in the almond milk (135ml) and vinegar (¾ tsp).

Working quickly, mix together the ingredients until combined.

As soon as the cake batter is ready, split it equally between the two tins. Smooth the top of the mixture so it is evenly spread out and reaches the edges of the tins - I do this using the back of a spoon.

Bake for 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Once baked, remove the cakes from the oven and leave them to cool in their tins for a few minutes before removing them from the tins and moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

How do you grind chia seeds?

I prefer to grind my chia seeds in a spice grinder as it’s the easiest way to grind them evenly and finely. However, you can also use a pestle and mortar if you prefer.

I’d recommend passing the ground chia seeds through a sieve before adding them to the cake mixture to ensure that no larger bits are left.

Ground chia seeds

Can I use flax seeds or linseeds instead of chia?

Yes.

You can substitute the chia for ground flax seeds or linseeds. They both work equally well.

I’ve used white chia in my cake as it gives the cake a more vanilla sponge look. However, you can also use the black chia seeds that are more commonly found in the shops. The only difference is that this will give the cake a slightly flecked look.

Why do you cream together the margarine and sugar if you’re not adding eggs?

When you make a traditional sponge, you are often asked to cream together the butter and sugar before gradually adding the eggs. Given this cake doesn’t contain any eggs, why do I still start by creaming the margarine and sugar?

I do it simply because I need the margarine to be really soft before adding the other ingredients. This recipe uses a combination of bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to help the cake to rise. As soon as these two ingredients are combined a reaction starts and bubbles start to form. Ideally, this reaction should take place as much as possible in the heat of the oven so it’s essential that the ingredients can be mixed together quickly. Ensuring the margarine is nice and soft before adding everything else makes this much easier.

This is also why I add the dry ingredients before the wet ingredients. Delaying the reaction for as long as possible.

Creamed vegan margarine and caster sugar

This mixture seems stiffer than a traditional sponge cake mixture, should I add more liquid?

No.

The mixture for this cake should be quite a bit stiffer than a traditional sponge mixture. You’ll find that you need to spoon it into the tin and spread it, rather than pouring it in.

Don’t be tempted to add more liquid to soften it. This will result in a cake that rises too much and then sinks in the middle.

Not only is the cake mixture stiffer than a traditional sponge cake, it also has a rougher texture. As you mix the ingredients together, you’ll start to notice air bubbles forming in the mixture giving it the look of a natural sponge (the type you wash with rather than the cake!).

The cake mixture after all of the ingredients have been combined

I need my cake to be eggless, but I can have dairy. Can I use regular milk and margarine/butter?

Absolutely.

I designed this cake to be completely vegan, but if you only need it to be egg-free, then it will also work just fine with cows’ milk in place of the almond milk and regular margarine/butter in place of the vegan version.

If you decide to use butter, please make sure it is nice and soft (at room temperature) and give it a really good beating in step 3 to make sure it’s easy to combine the other ingredients.

What about if I can have eggs, but I need my cake to be dairy-free?

In that case, you could use this cake recipe just as it is (just because you can have eggs doesn’t mean you have to!). Alternatively, if you’d like a more traditional sponge cake, then my Vanilla Birthday Cake can be easily adapted to be dairy-free by switching the butter/margarine and milk for dairy-free equivalents.

Can this cake be covered with fondant icing?

To cover this cake you need about 800g of fondant icing. This will give you enough to roll the fondant a little bigger than the cake so it can be trimmed neatly.

I’d recommend filling and covering the cake in my Vegan Vanilla Buttercream before adding the fondant icing as it will help the fondant to adhere to the cake and make it easier to get a smooth finish (plus buttercream is yummy!).

Can I use this recipe to make a vegan victoria sponge cake?

Yes.

If you prefer jam and cream to buttercream, then you can fill this cake with a layer of jam and layer of Whipped Coconut Cream.

Free From/Suitable For

The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.

Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans

Egg-Free

Dairy-Free

Peanut-Free (contains almond milk)

Sesame-Free

Soya-Free

Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free

Lupin-Free

If you would like to make this recipe tree nut-free (almond) then switch the almond milk for another dairy-free alternative.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Cardiffsays

May 19, 2020 at 12:18 am

Hi, I wanted to know if you could make this with cows milk but without eggs? Would I still need the chia seeds for this? Also I wanted to make a lemon sponge is this possible?

You’re absolutely fine to use cow’s milk instead of almond (and either butter our regular margarine for the vegan margarine). However, the chia seeds are there to replace the eggs not the dairy, so I would still recommend using them.

If you want to make a lemon sponge, then leave out the vanilla extract and add the zest of 1.5 lemons instead. The buttercream can either be flavoured with lemon zest and juice, or lemon extract. If you take a look at my lemon buttercream recipe, you can see how much of each to use.

You can, but as ground almonds don’t absorb as much moisture as chia seeds you’ll find that you get a slightly different texture.

Eleashasays

May 01, 2020 at 3:28 pm

Hi! Wondering if you could help! I’m trying to make my daughters birthday cake! I’ve been doing some different recipes but recently I just can’t get them to bake right! And they are always undercooked! I tried your recipe today as a last resort and it’s happened again! Any advice would be much appreciated?

Is there any chance your oven could be running a little on the cold side if you’re having the same result with all bakes then that’s what I suspect it’ll be. Maybe try Turing it up 10c and see if that helps.

Eleanor Wynnsays

April 26, 2020 at 2:27 pm

This tasted great! I did try to use slightly more ingredients and cook for longer in an 8 inch half dome shape for my sons birthday cake but it split when I was taking it out. Its there anything I can do to make it more likely to hold or another vegan recipe I could try instead. 🙂

This sponge is designed to be quite soft as I like my cakes light and fluffy. This sadly means it’s not really sturdy enough for shaped times that cannot be lined.

It recommend looking for a sponge that uses oil instead of margarine and doesn’t include the chia, but uses just oil and vinegar (or a similar acid) to replace the eggs. Cakes made in the way tend to be sturdier. If you have a look at the Domestic Gothess website, she has a lot of vegan cakes that I think could be suitable.

Mireia Sidera Portelasays

April 21, 2020 at 9:27 pm

Thank you for the recipe!! I made a birthday cake for my hubby and it looked and tasted amazing

You can definitely substitute the vegan Marg for vegetable shortening, just make sure you beat it really well before adding the other ingredients. I’m a little confused about the other substitution, as there’s no cornstarch in the recipe. Is that more of a general question about vegan baking?

I do not have chia seed but have golden flax seed, can i use that? Also do i not need to add water to it to make it sticky before adding to thr dry mix? Is it ok to add the ground flax seed to thr dry mix?

I’ve not tested this recipe in any other size of tin so I cannot be sure of the result, especially as the sponges are a lot larger than the ones I’ve under here.

If you wanted to give it a try you’ll need 2x the recipe listed here. The cakes will be a similar depth, so cooking time should be roughly the same.

Marion oxfordsays

January 23, 2020 at 4:22 pm

Hi there, when I have seen other recipes for egg free or vegan cakes I made a chocolate one with soya milk and cider vinegar and the texture was nice, why do you have to mix the replscements together before you start the cake, I watched it get thicker like a butter milk consistency then mix butter and sugar together then alternately adding dry then wet finishing with dry, I dont understand why this is please.

Some of the rise in the vegan cake is caused by the reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda. I found when I tested the cake it was best to mix the wet and dry together separately and then quickly combine them at the end to ensure that this reaction mostly takes place in the oven (you’ll notice as soon as they’re combined little bubbles start to form). You’ll probably still get a reasonable cake if you just add them all together, but I got best results this way.

Erinsays

December 30, 2019 at 2:21 pm

hi! thanks for sharing your recipe. do you think self rising flour makes a difference in the lightness and fluffiness? typically, I have all purpose on hand so am just wondering. also, do you think the recipe would still work if I omit the ground chia? i dont normally use that as an egg replacer. thanks!

You should be a able to use all purpose but you’ll need to add some baking powder (13g) to ensure the cake rises as it should. You can leave out the chia, however you’ll find the cake is not as fluffy and may be slightly claggy if you do. If you don’t want to buy a big bag of chia then buy a couple of chia shots so you don’t have too much to use up.

nigelsays

October 14, 2019 at 12:34 pm

the cake sunk a bit in middle and was rather fragile, but just about held together. Once iced with ‘butter’ icing in middle and lemon icing on top it was v tasty and great texture. would be good to have it bit more robust.

Thanks Nigel, I agree about it needed to be a bit more robust. Unfortunately when I was testing I found that the more robust versions didn’t has a nice a texture as the version I finally published but it’s something I’ll keep looking at.

nigelsays

November 13, 2019 at 11:49 am

i’ve made this a few times since first attempt, and these subsequent ones have been less fragile – upping quantities by 10% has helped i think. The taste and texture is superb.

Charlottesays

October 01, 2019 at 8:03 pm

Hi Charlotte, I’m looking to make this cake for my sons 5th birthday but it will be for a lot of people so maybe a 9 or 10 inch round cake tin. I have never made a cake like this before and was wondering how the recipe will work in a bigger tin or if you have a breakdown for it in bigger sizes.

Unfortunately, I haven’t tested it as a bigger cake yet so I’m not sure sorry. I could work out the ingredients for you if you wanted to give it a try but I couldn’t guarantee the result.

Charlotte Williamssays

October 17, 2019 at 4:25 pm

Hiya thank you for replying to me. I had a crazy day cake making and using your recipe and after a good few attempts I found if I poured the whole amount into one 9 inch tin and I increased the cooking time by 15 mins it was perfect. I made 2 lots and it made quite a nice sized cake and everyone complemented on it thank you, what a lovely recipe ❤️ xxx

Charlotte Oatessays

October 18, 2019 at 4:11 pm

Thanks for your reply. It’s useful to know the adjustments that have been successful for different tin sizes as it’s something I’ll know I’ll get asked in future.

I’m so glad you all enjoyed it 🙂

Ssays

September 23, 2019 at 8:51 pm

Hi 🙂 will this recipe work fine without the vinegar? I live in the UK and can’t find white vinegar. Also, I only have 1 cake tin but need to make several can layers, so the cake mixture will be sitting on the counter for a while whilst the other layers are baking in the oven. Do you think this will turn out fine?

No, it needs something acidic to react with the baking soda and get the cake to rise.

Also, I wouldn’t recommend leaving the mixture out while other parts are baking. As soon as the baking soda hits the vinegar air bubble start to form. You want to get the cake mixture into the oven as quickly as possible so that this reaction takes place in the heat of the oven. If it doesn’t it won’t rise properly.

Paulasays

September 07, 2019 at 1:33 pm

Hi Charlotte! I really like your recipes, especially your chocolate cake! Do you think this cake would work in a square tin? If so, do you think it would be a 20cm square tin for one layer? Thank you! Paula

Hi Charlotte!! Gosh, printing so tiny I can hardly see it!! Hey, I enjoyed cruising around your website/blog. Your recipe for Vegan Vanilla Sponge Cake caught my eye. I had everything on hand except the self-rising flour and the chia seeds, but our local specialty foods store helped me out. It took awhile to change all the measurements to cups and Tbsp and Tsp, but after that, all went smoothly. Thanks for sharing your recipes. I’ll be back!!

Thanks for the feedback about the font size when recipes are printed. I’ll have a look at how the print version is set up and see if I can make it all a bit bigger.

If you have a look at the recipe online you’ll find all of the cups, tbsp and tsp measurements if you click the green butter just above the ingredients list. If you hit that button before hitting print then it’ll print with the cups measurements rather than the original grams measurements.